A parrot with PTSD is on the road to recovery after being adopted by a new owner – who soothes it by singing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’.
Ias sanctuary volunteer Brenda Jorgensen gently sings the children’s lullaby.
The bald bird plucked all its feathers out due to stress and suffers with PTSD after spending its entire life locked up in a cage.
It ended up in a shelter after being seized by animal control but due to its tendency to peck, shriek and shake when stressed, rescuers struggled to find it a home.
Then last November, Brenda, of Houston, Texas, and her husband John, 55, a cybersecurity expert, adopted Chicken Man.
She said she formed a bond with the male bird when she starting singing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ as he tried to attack her – and it miraculously calmed him down.
Now the mom-of-one serenades him every day to help him relax – and the pair have developed an incredible bond.
Recalling the day they met, Brenda said: “He was lunging and screaming and trying to bite.
“I started signing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – I don’t know why I thought of that song.
“He grabbed his tail feathers and started dancing and started clicking.
“I was laughing so hard.
“I gave myself two months to see if he would connect to people and trust again.
“Two months turned into us dancing and singing every day.
“Every time I would sing with him he would calm down.”
As well as ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, Chicken Man loves to bob along to tunes – especially ones by Taylor Swift.
Brenda has taken to wrapping the bird in a blanket in what they’ve nicknamed the “Chicken burrito wrap” manoeuvre to help calm him down.
The tactics have seen Chicken Man’s personality totally transform and he now snuggles up to Brenda without attacking.
The parrot is now also keen to interact with the couple’s other pets – 13 reptiles, a Chihuahua and four birds – but can’t be part of a flock because he was never socialized.
Brenda said: “He had been in a cage for 10 years. It was a very neglectful situation.
“He went through several sanctuaries and several foster families: nothing stuck. He lost trust in people.
“He’s not hostile, just awkward.
“It’s cute to watch him open up.
“He’s kind of afraid of everything and everyone – I don’t blame him, he’s been through a lot.”
Chicken plucked his feathers out for so long that Brenda believes many on his body will never grow back.
However, since adopting him, she said his wings have begun to fill in.
She added: “People tell me he looks ugly but I forget that he’s naked.
“What matters to me is his heart. If I can fix him on the inside I don’t care what the outside looks like.
“He’s just the way he is in all his glory – I think he’s adorable.”
